Employee Free Choice Act: Pensions, Economics, and Lies?
Thursday, May 14th, 2009 by AdminThe battle continues over the Employee Free Choice Act. Here are some stories we’re watching play out.
Unfortunately, its leading advocates continue to call detractors “liars” because we point out the truth about EFCA. Congressman Phil Hare reportedly has accused “big business” of lying. But we can all certainly agree this is true: “Hare accuses business groups of spending $200 million on campaigns to, in his words, scare people into believing the act would be bad.” Actually, it’s called educating the public. And they don’t like it much when special interests and politicians get together to remove the secret ballot or insert the government further into the economy.
Meanwhile, Gary Shapiro argues over at Huffington Post that “Card Check Is Not The Solution for Pension Mismanagement”:
The Hudson study, written by a former chief economist at the Department of Labor, went on to find that 21 of the largest multi-employer union pension funds had only 67.7 percent of the reserves needed to meet their obligations, seven were in critical condition, and not one was fully funded. In this group of 21 are some the most vocal, deep-pocketed supporters of card check, including the SEIU and Unite Here.
Perhaps that explains the urgency of imposing card check on U.S. workers. It would be a way for union officials to tap a new funding source to meet federal requirements that they fully fund pension funds by 2011. A fresh crop of unionized employers would subsidize past union pension plan mismanagement and, at the same time, fund the demand for defined benefits from the latest union members.
Meanwhile, labor’s ardent mouthpiece, Harold Meyerson, argues that Democrats should either form an acceptable compromise on EFCA or put it to a vote as-is.
And finally, this helpful dose of reality and reminder from the Michigan Manufacturing Association:
We believe the manufacturing industry and other large employers will likely be the first targets for new organizing drives. Our members, the state’s largest employers, continue to struggle after nearly a decade of economic challenges. Michigan companies striving to compete globally don’t need another layer of cost to make their operations less competitive.
Tags: State of Play
